Muslim woman to sue after humiliation in French airport

SHAFAQNA – Asiye Bilgin who was living in Europe for 31 years, has threatened to file a lawsuit after she says she was forced to take off her jacket at a securıty checkpoint in a French airport.

At Strasbourg Airport, Asiye Bilgin explained, security personnel asked her to take off her jacket even though she informed them that she was wearing a sleeveless shirt underneath.

“I have been living in Europe for 31 years. Although I faced many types of discrimination I was never humiliated this much.”

After her first refusal to take off her jacket, a male security officer then asked her to take it off, loudly this time, she said. Bilgin replied that, as a Muslim woman, she could not take off her jacket in public and requested a private cabin.

She said she told the security officer: “What you are doing is against religious freedom and human rights?” To which another officer reportedly yelled: “This is Strasbourg and there is no cabin here, you have to take off your jacket.”

After another failed attempt at requesting a suitable place to take off her jacket, Bilgin said she eventually took it off to go through security.

She also said she will file a lawsuit in order for a cabin to be built in Strasbourg Airport.

Bilgin also said that the incident had taken place in front of several parliamentarians, without specifying which. She added that the fact that none of them had intervened was sad.

“All the Muslim women, especially the ones wearing hijab, can face inhumane treatment despite the universal values,” she said. “And this treatment took place in front of the ones who attempt to lecture Turkey on so-called humanity and freedom.”

“European Muslims are treated as second-class citizens in Europe,” she added. “The treatment that Blacks face in the U.S. is experienced by Muslims in Europe.”